What worked for me was calorie counting. Being honest about every bite/taste/sip/lick that went into my mouth. Planning my meals, food journaling and doing most of the prep/cooking myself. Measuring cups, spoons, food scale - all vitally important. I also concentrated on eating really good food - lean protein, tons of fruits/vegetables, healthy fats (like nuts), low fat dairy and healthy complex carbohydrates (brown rice, sweet potatoes, beans etc).

I made the personal decision to greatly reduce/eliminate foods that are nutritionally vacant (not saying they are BAD foods, just nutritionally vacant). I gave up fast food, sugary sodas, almost all chips, cookies, crackers, pretzels, cream-based sauces (which I honestly never liked anyway) - the foods that made it hard for me to stop eating when I started. It's not the approach for everyone, but it worked wonders for me. I always thought I had a problem with food, but I just had a problem with SOME foods, eliminating that sweet/carby stuff set me free from my 20 year food prison.

I still have treats, but they are managed.

So, that's what worked for me - you have to figure out what works for you. I can't even estimate what your potential rate of loss will be - it's so individual. It's tough, but try to concentrate on the healthy changes you are making - adding years to your life, preventing disease, making your heart stronger, improving your lungs. Treat yourself well and the weight loss will follow.

I started nearly exactly 5 years ago at 200 lbs. I now weigh 130 and have kept my weight off for 4+ years. Change can happen, if you want it, plan it and follow through.

Glory gave you some great advice! All I can really add to what she has said is that you should check a few websites to find out roughly how many calories you should be eating for healthy weightloss. This is something that I never really understood and when I started dieting, I was eating around 1200 calories. For my age, height, weight and exercise level I had to eat much more.

Sometimes I feel that I eat more food when dieting than I ever did overeating! The difference is that what I am eating is better quality and higher volume but lower calories. This has pretty much dispelled the idea that I had to starve to lose weight. As for all the naughty things that I used to eat... I found that after around three weeks I was no longer craving food the way I used to.

As for how long you'll have to wait to see results... some people drop a huge amount of weight right away, maybe even within DAYS, especially if they're eating less sodium and drinking more water than they used to. Others don't lose for a few weeks, or even GAIN weight (usually because they're working out harder and their body holds onto water to help repair the muscles).

And in terms of actually SEEING results in how you look, or how your clothes fit... can you guess what I'm going to say? It's individual. Everyone loses weight from different body areas in a different order, which really plays a role in how you look as you lose.

I guess my point is, you might feel a discouraging lack of results sometimes, but if you're eating the right amount and exercising, it will happen eventually.

Helloooo cutensweet. Yeah we need more information I think in order to give you more in depth tips. Your activity level, your diet plan, etc.

One thing I can say is that you say you were as low as 125 in the past. Sometimes I get hung up on where I was in my past. I find that actually hurts me and hurts my progress because I start to feel very negative things when I focus on things of that nature. The future is what is important. Where we were years ago won't help us if we fixate on it and feel bad about ourselves now. We have to learn how to live again and learn how to feel good and positive about ourselves. Out with the old, in with the new. I'm only now beginning to realize how important focusing on the future instead of fixating on my past is.

You can totally do it, we all can. Everyone is here to support you and each other.

Helloooo cutensweet. Yeah we need more information I think in order to give you more in depth tips. Your activity level, your diet plan, etc.

One thing I can say is that you say you were as low as 125 in the past. Sometimes I get hung up on where I was in my past. I find that actually hurts me and hurts my progress because I start to feel very negative things when I focus on things of that nature. The future is what is important. Where we were years ago won't help us if we fixate on it and feel bad about ourselves now. We have to learn how to live again and learn how to feel good and positive about ourselves. Out with the old, in with the new. I'm only now beginning to realize how important focusing on the future instead of fixating on my past is.

You can totally do it, we all can. Everyone is here to support you and each other.

I couldn't begin to agree more with you on this philosophy! If I think back it is so discouraging. But when I look to the present I feel very encouraged and motivated.

The only thing I'd add - well, not add, really, but clarify - is that I think what jendiet said was right - strength training works wonders. And Jacquie668 is right, too - if you strength train hard enough, you'll actually put on weight (muscle weights more than fat) while getting skinnier. The gym can be intimidating, and a lot of people here recommend home systems like bodylastics or bully extreme, but the truth is that anything that gets you working is helpful. Don't get discoureged - that more you work at it, the faster you'll see results.

I second, third, fourth, and fifth calorie counting. I lost about 20 pounds by just being more active and eliminating processed foods from my diet, but then I hit a plateau and was getting so frustrated! I decided to record what I ate for a week and realized I was eating healthy foods, but still too many of them! So I started counting my calories like a hawk and am down 17 more pounds in HALF the time it took me to lose the first 20.

I also find calorie counting/food journaling works as a deterrent b/c you just HATE to write down that you ate a Nutty Bar for 300 calories (I had to do this last week during my TOM lol).

Eat when hungry. Just eat a little. Your do need to have fixed hours for snacks. Snacks help you avoid the huge irregularities between the 3 regular meals.Make sure you have in the fridge several variations of dietary edible species so that you are not oppressed by the limited repertoire of flavours…. Perhaps this is the key to a successful diet. Make sure you have many different fruits, many different low-fat milk, many salads, many sources of protein and in general a rich but carefully selected fridge!
Goodluck on your diet.!

The only thing I'd add - well, not add, really, but clarify - is that I think what jendiet said was right - strength training works wonders. And Jacquie668 is right, too - if you strength train hard enough, you'll actually put on weight (muscle weights more than fat) while getting skinnier. The gym can be intimidating, and a lot of people here recommend home systems like bodylastics or bully extreme, but the truth is that anything that gets you working is helpful. Don't get discoureged - that more you work at it, the faster you'll see results.

I just wanted to mention that it takes women months and months and months of really hard cord muscle training for woman to see any weight gain from it. And muscle weighs the same as fat, pound for pound. But it is a wonderful component to overall health and weight loss. The more muscle we have, the more calories we burn just sitting still.

You've gotten some good advice. I just wanted to add that in order to see steady results, you've got to be consistent. Remember that any "off" days can and will set you back. That's not a reason to throw in the towel, if you should have a slip up, you get RIGHT back on track. Don't let one little slip turn into a blow out.

I also would like to mention, don't ever feel deprived when turning down certain foods - like ice cream, cake, cookies, etc... Each and every time you say no to one of "those type" foods, you're saying YES to you! The REAL deprivation is STAYING overweight. Decide and remember what it is you want the very most. The high calorie/high quantity food - or the slim, trim you. Keep in mind your long term satisfaction instead of your short term gratification. Always.

Try out new recipes. FIND healthy, yet delicious foods to eat. Enjoying the foods that I is very important to me. Don't settle for bland "diet" foods. If you're eating delicious, yet lower calorie foods, it'll be MUCH easier to stay on plan.

And I'll ditto the calorie counting. It's built in accountability and sets portion limits. Once you get into it, it's quite simple. It keeps you on the straight and narrow and forces you to educate yourself on nutrition.

Lastly, I would say, don't "dread" this, get EXCITED about it. You can transform your life. Your life. Eating healthy is a wonderful thing which brings about immeasurable wonderful things. It's nothing to dread, but something to embrace, relish and celebrate! So, get excited, get a plan, get moving......